


the mistake was mine

by greywardenblue



Category: Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I have Feelings about Gascon actually getting to like Meve and realizing he fucked up, Introspective Gascon Brossard, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, mentions of execution by hanging, nobody gets hanged in the fic ofc but Gascon does think about the possibility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23836723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greywardenblue/pseuds/greywardenblue
Summary: Meve asks Reynard how they're getting along with Gascon, and he answers honestly. Neither of them think to check for eavesdroppers.a.k.a. The one where Gascon starts realizing that he may have made a mistake in Aedirn.
Relationships: Gascon Brossard & Meve & Reynard Odo, but mostly Gascon Brossard & Meve
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	the mistake was mine

"Careful with those bombs, boys," Gascon called out as he passed some of his men stocking up on weaponry. If Reynard had been there, he likely would have given a full lecture on proper weapon safety, and the thought made Gascon smirk. His people were the opposite of the Royal Guard Reynard apparently to emulate, but Gascon had already pointed out several times that Meve was in no position to be picky about her help.

Her _help_. It was rather ironic, Gascon now helping the wife of the man who-- the wife of the late king. Meve had never brought up his family, so Gascon assumed she hadn't realized what exactly his last name meant. Sometimes he wondered what she'd say if she had. He wondered if she would say it was justified, that it was natural, it was what traitors deserved. He wondered if she would have thought it poetic justice to finish the job herself and have the last Brossard hanged.

Because he might have escaped the noose the first time, but if she found out he was betraying her, she would have him hanged by a tree without question - just like that elven man she originally saved from the human mob who turned out to be a bastard in the end. Gascon had never been afraid of dying, but the thought still made his stomach turn. Maybe it wasn't even the hanging part that made him feel that way. Meve had given that man her trust and protection, and he repaid it by turning on her, just like Gascon was about to do.

"But Your Majesty, he's a brigand!"

At Reynard's voice, Gascon paused for a moment and then ducked into a nearby tent. He didn't even think to eavesdrop, the movement was almost instinctual.

"He _was_ a brigand," Meve said outside.

"And I'm not convinced he won't be again."

Gascon rolled his eyes. Of course Reynard still didn't trust him, despite their nightly card games, and how he actually smiled at Gascon's jokes sometimes. That might have stung, if Reynard hadn't been exactly right. This way he hardly had room to be offended.

"The Strays are capable fighters. We wouldn't have gotten this far without them."

"I don't doubt their ability, but that is exactly what concerns me. What if tomorrow they decide to turn all that fighting experience back on us?"

"I understand your concern, Reynard."

Of course, Meve agreed. She would be a fool not to, and Queen Meve was a lot of things, but a fool was not one of them. Gascon turned away and started looking for a way out of the tent that wouldn't put him right in the way of the pair.

"I understand it, but I don't share it."

Gascon froze in place and listened.

"I cannot speak for every Stray, the same way I cannot speak for every soldier in our army, or every recruit we pick up," Meve continued, "And yes, that has cost me dearly before. But I trust Gascon. I don't believe that he is an evil man. I don't know what lead him to become a brigand, but I know it is not cruelty driving him. I can imagine him being in a desperate situation and seeing no other way out, and he is making me realize that I share the blame if my subjects feel that way. I am not blameless when a man becomes a brigand because he had nothing left to eat, or because the landlord was cruel and unjust. It _is_ my responsibility to know how much my guards are paid."

Gascon felt ill, unsure on his feet. He remembered being a child and hiding outside the estate while the King's soldiers took his family away, and yet the image of Meve in his mind that would have told him they deserved it was cracking. A thought that passed his mind a few times before, mostly while watching Meve fight manticores and Nilfgaardians alike with a fire in her heart, finally stayed long enough to be articulated: he didn't know if this was a woman he could betray for coin. And if he did, what kind of man would that make him?

Reynard was explaining something about how the Queen had delegates for a reason and couldn't be everywhere at once, but Gascon was hardly listening anymore. He left the tent on the other side and went for a walk.


End file.
